Cookies with Cream
by Prower Power
Summary: Amy has to bail on helping Cream fill a big order at the bakery b/c Sonic's in 'trouble', so she volunteers Tails to help out in her place. The only problem is...Tails is...well...challenged when it comes to the science of preparing food. Will he survive?


**Cookies ****w****ith Cream**

"You don't understand Amy! I don't know anything about cooking!" Tails yells into his cell as he paces back and forth in the kitchen.

"Will you relax? I'm not asking you to actually COOKanything. I just need you to fill in for me and help Cream at the bakery since I've got to go save Sonic."

"What's wrong with him?" Tails asks, sounding concerned.

"Apparently it's raining downtown and the moment the water touched his fur, he started having flashbacks or something." Amy sighs. "Rouge called and said Sonic was curled up in a ball under a tree, hugging himself, and singing 'Rain rain go away' over and over again."

"What are you going to do?"

"Probably hug him, tell him it'll be okay, and then smack him in the head with my hammer to try and knock some sense into him."

"You know Amy, you have hit him with your hammer a lot. It could be that he has a concussion. Maybe you shouldn't keep hit—"

"Just get down to the shop and help Cream! It won't be that bad." Amy cuts him off. "Besides, I already told her you'd do it. Bye!"

Tails slowly hangs up as he hears Amy disconnect the call on her end.

This is just perfect. Tails thinks and frowns as he heads toward the door of his workshop. How in the world am I supposed to help Cream cook?

"H-H-Hi Cream." Tails says softly as he steps inside. A small bell on the metal door's handle jingles lightly as it glides to a close.

"Oh hey Tails!" Cream doesn't even make full eye contact as she hurriedly loads two more trays of cinnamon muffins into the oven.

"So…" Tails, completely unsure of his surroundings, begins to take a nervous step toward the display case. He feels his mouth begin to water at the sight of glazed donut holes, his favorite. Then his eyes catch the maple and chocolate covered donuts on the next row down. He continues to scan and see bear claws bursting with strawberry jelly, powdered donuts, and even slices of carrot cake with a thick layer of vanilla icing on top.

"Thank you so much for coming Tails!" Cream takes a deep breath as she wipes her hands on her slightly dirtied white apron. "Amy said you could help?"

"Sure…"

"Well then, c'mon!" Cream smiles for the first time and waves her arm for Tails to come around behind the counter.

"What are you making all this stuff for, Cream? Where are all the customers?" Tails asks, noticing the empty shop.

"We've got a big order for a party tonight at some place across town. They want 432 cupcakes and twelve dozen cookies by eight o'clock."

"Four-hundred and thirty two?" Tails shouts in disbelief. "And cookies?"

"Yeah! And we're getting three thousand dollars if we get the order there on time." Cream says cheerily. "But we have to hurry. I've got just a couple more batches to get in the oven, but decorating them is the hard part."

"De-cor-a-ting?" Tails sounds like he's pronouncing a foreign word.

"C'mon Tails, don't tell me you've never decorated cupcakes before?" Cream puts her hands on her hips and looks at him with teasing brown eyes.

"Uhh…well…"

"What kind of cooking experience do you have exactly? Amy said you were practically an Ace of Cakes in your spare time."

Thanks a lot Amy! Tails screams in his mind. Thanks a lot!

"Well…I know how to make lots of different kinds of food actually."He begins to answer Cream's question. "Frozen food…fast food…"

Cream slaps her hand over her face and slides it down in disbelief. "C'mon Tails, the first fifty-four have been cooling out of the oven for a while and are ready to go." She waves him toward a wide wooden table in the back.

"Why were they cooling? Shouldn't we just put the icing on them when they're done baking?"

"Nu-uh, Tails." She smiles at him sweetly as she hands him a baker's hat and coat. He puts them on awkwardly as Cream continues to teach. "If you put the icing on while they're still hot, the icing will melt and the cupcakes will look bad."

Cream takes Tails' hand and shows him how to hold one of her SugarVeil icing dispensers.

"Who cares if they look bad as long as they taste good?" Tails grins as he squeezes the trigger and plops a dollop of icing onto his index finger before sampling it. "Mmmm…."

"No eating the profits Tails!" She laughs as she slaps him on the wrist.

"This thing is pretty cool Cream!" Tails says excitedly as he looks at the mechanized icing dispenser. It had several replaceable nozzles and even a small battery powered motor. "I never knew you used gadgets and stuff in baking."

"There's lots of neat little stuff we use. Since my Mom decided we should open up a bakery to go with our chain of Flower Power shops, I did all the research to find out what kind of equipment we needed and everything." Cream proudly explains. "Now here, let me show you how to apply the icing." Without the slightest hesitation, Cream takes Tails' hands in her own and begins to smoothly apply a tall, flat layer of pink icing to the top of the white cupcakes. Tails begins to blush furiously as Cream stands so close behind him. The motion becomes almost like a reflex as she expertly guides his hands and they finish icing the entire batch in less than ten minutes.

"You stay here and keep icing them while I finish decorating, okay? We need 144 with pink icing, 144 with white, and 144 with blue." Cream instructs him warmly as she lightly hustles toward another table across the room where several small containers filled with different types of sprinkles, nuts, and berries are waiting.

"Yes sir boss!" Tails salutes her as he turns back to his station. He tries to remain focused on the task at hand, but he keeps distracted, seeing Cream rushing around the bakery. She adds a few sprinkles to some of the pink frosted cupcakes, a couple of blackberries and raspberries to the ones covered in white icing. She even apologizes for the delay to a couple of customers as they walk in from outside. She leaps to the counter to give each of them a chocolate covered donut from the display case.

I never knew Cream was so…amazing. Tails whispers in his mind, almost as if he's afraid that she'll hear what he's thinking.

"Now for the cookies Tails!" Cream calls from a baking station in the center of the room. Already flattened dough is spread across the cool, metal counter. "These are actually pretty simple." Cream takes a star shaped cutter and presses it into the dough confidently.

"Hmmm…" Tails reaches for a ruler and a piece of paper and begins to measure the width and length of the dough to try to find the surface area. Then he pulls out his phone to use its calculator.

"Just try it Tails." Cream tells him simply, handing him another cutter, shaped like an oval. "The best cooks don't have to measure. They know what feels right. It's kind of like they're cooking from their heart."

Tails tentatively makes an indentation in the dough before lifting up his freshly cut soon to be cookie and looking at it proudly. "Is that what they mean by 'cooking with love'?"

"Uh-huh." Cream grins at him as she sprinkles some sugar crystals over the top of their cookies. They finish the rest of that part of the order and go back to working on the cupcakes.

The smell of baking cinnamon, freshly kneaded dough, and the icing tickles Tails' nose. "Ha-choo!"

"No sneezing in the kitchen Tails!" Cream calls from across the room.

"Sorry!"

They work at a feverish pace for the next three hours but manage to get all the cupcakes iced, decorated, and loaded for delivery with almost thirty minutes to spare.

"Look it this bad boy Tails! A check for three thousand bucks!" Cream waves it ecstatically as she steps back inside the bakery after watching the delivery truck drive away.

"Woo hoo! Way to go Cream! You're rich now." Tails jokes.

"This is so great Tails! This will help us expand the shop. I can't thank you enough."

"Ha! You don't need to thank me. You did all the work. I wouldn't have known how to do anything if you weren't such a good teacher." Tails looks at his feet shyly.

"Oh c'mon Tails. I didn't do that much. It's just baking." Cream replies quietly as she begins to clean the counters of some stray areas of flour left behind.

"Don't be so modest Cream." Tails says seriously. "It takes a lot of skill to make every single one of those cupcakes look almost too perfect to eat. Not to mention all the research you did and all the cool little machines you use in here! I want to experiment with these sometime if that's okay…."

"Oh no buddy! I don't want a mixer that can fly around the kitchen or a blender that can chop up industrial strength titanium."

"Awww…" Tails jokingly pouts.

"But you know…" Cream says slyly as she picks up one of the almost empty icing dispensers. She slowly steps closer to Tails, who is more mesmerized by every move she makes. Cream squeezes out a small dot of pink icing onto the tip of Tails' nose. "I've always wondered what fox tastes like…"

Tails almost shakes uncontrollably from the combination of excitement and fear as Cream carefully kisses his nose and licks the icing off.

"H-How did I taste?" Tails manages to play along.

"Not very good actually." Cream looks at him with disappointment, like an owner whose dog disobeyed.

"Huh?" Tails suddenly feels embarrassed at Cream's words.

"But I think this will taste much better." Cream barely whispers as she hesitantly leans in before kissing Tails deeply on the lips. Tails slowly finds the courage to wrap his arms around Cream as they separate from their kiss.

"Your mouth tastes a lot better than your nose." Cream giggles as she touches the tip of the kit's muzzle.

Tails shyly pecks Cream on the nose before licking his lips and pretending to think really seriously like a food critic. "A treat for the eyes and the taste buds. You are delicious Cream!"

The fox and the rabbit share a laugh as they begin to think about what they can do to make the bakery even better. After brainstorming for some new ideas, Cream thanks Tails again before kissing him goodnight. He heads out the front door and begins walking down the sidewalk, surrounded by other pedestrians, but completely lost in his own world, replaying every kiss and moment of spending the afternoon with Cream.

Thanks a lot Amy! Tails thinks as he walks home, surrounded by the soft, tender glow of the crescent moon. Thanks a lot!

**The End**

**Author's Note:** Just a sappy little one shot I thought I'd try since I was in the mood for some homemade sugar cookies the other day and since I think Tails and Cream are super sweet.

What are your favorite types of sweets/candies? Halloween is only 17 days away!

I'm thinking of doing a Halloween fic called Cream's Screams, but I'm not entirely sure if should be like funny scary or a serious scary/horror story. Let me know what you guys think and if you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to throw them out there. Thanks for reading and reviewing!


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